MLB appoints Halem as EVP, labor relations

Commissioner Bud Selig appointed Dan Halem as executive vice president of labor relations for Major League Baseball on Thursday.

Halem, who will continue to report to MLB chief operating officer Rob Manfred, has served as the Office of the Commissioner's senior vice president and general counsel for labor since September 2007.

"I am pleased to expand Dan's role with Major League Baseball," Selig said in a statement. "Rob, Dan and their team have superbly managed a number of significant initiatives for our industry, and I believe that they will continue to support the work of our Clubs with distinction in the future."

Halem has worked closely with club management officials and helps direct administration of the revenue sharing system, the debt-service rule, the competitive balance tax, the salary arbitration system and the amateur Draft support program.

Halem has played a key role in all collective bargaining with the MLB Players Association, including the 2011 Basic Agreement renewal and recent upgrades to the Joint Drug Agreement. He also manages the bargaining relationship with the World Umpires Association.

Halem, who graduated from Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations in 1988 and from Harvard Law School, joined MLB after working as a partner in the Labor and Employment Law Department at the New York office of Proskauer. In that position, he counseled MLB on collective bargaining issues, and he also represented and counseled the National Hockey League and the New York Jets of the National Football League.